TRC Japan 2014 Day 10! Finishing Strong

June 12, 2014 by David An

Hey guys, Elliott here. Today, we began the day with Morning Prayer with the Jesus soldiers. Then, we split into two groups and went to two different university campuses. As one of our strategies, my partner Jason and I sometimes use sports (talking about and playing) to initiate conversations. For instance, last week, we threw around a Frisbee and “accidentally” threw it near groups of people and then initiated conversations and asked them to play with us. Today, we spent some time playing basketball with some students, talking to them while resting and inviting them to our Friday event. Following the Campus Ministry, we came back to J-House to prepare for Wednesday’s Power Worship. Jason preached on the Laborers in the Vineyard (Matthew 20). We also sang “How Great is our God” and cooked curry for the people who attended the worship service.

As our mission is coming to a close, our team has been praying about and stressing the idea of finishing strong. A peculiar sign has recently made its way onto the door of J-House (peculiar in that the animal on it doesn’t really match the message…. but still cute right?). This sign, displayed above, is smacked by every TRC member on their way out of J-House into the mission field. For me, one thing that has been helping me and motivating me to finish strong is something I’ve been learning through my time in Japan. The more I interact with and pray for the Japanese people, the more I realize that I am not really adding anything to God’s mission in Japan. God is the one that changes hearts, not me. And if I decided not go to Japan, God would have sent someone else to go to share the gospel instead. In other words, I am completely replaceable. However, even though this is the case, God has graciously allowed me to come to Japan. How privileged am I that the God of the universe would allow me to take part in His redemptive plan even though I am nothing!? Not just to be used as His hands and feet, but so that I can be stretched and grow to become more and more like Him! And since God is the one that does everything, all I have to do is do my best and watch Him work.

Prayer Requests:

Please pray that the team finishes the mission strong! I think each of us, whether it’s food, more sleep, etc., has distractions and temptations that can easily derail us from finishing strong. So please pray that, by God’s grace, we would give all of ourselves for the next two days.

Please also pray for the upcoming Friday (Big Friday) event. This will be our last ministry activity before we leave the following morning. We have been inviting students left and right for this event. Please pray that a lot of the students come and that God would work in their hearts through the various performances and message!